Everything Else is Bric-a-brac: Notes on Home

A collection of 60 short prose pieces by best-selling author and design critic Akiko Busch that reflect, in her classic style of observation, on the human condition and offer insights on family, domestic space, and a changing environment. Beautifully illustrated with 20 pieces of watercolor art, this collection makes an inspirational gift.In Everything Else Is Bric-a-Brac, Akiko Busch explores place, memory, and the ambiguities of domestic life. At once thought-provoking, humorous, and meditative, these essays illuminate the emotional resonance of inanimate things; ideas of placement and displacement; the simultaneous frailty and tenacity of human recollection; the beauty of usefulness and uselessness alike; and how we do—and don't—find our place in things.
A collection of 60 short essays by best-selling author and culture and design critic Akiko Busch, in her classic style of observation, that reflect on the human condition and offer the promise of calm and insight.Akiko Busch writes on the topics of culture, design, and nature. She was a contributing editor at Metropolis magazine for 20 years and has also written regular columns and essays for such publications as The New York Times, House & Garden, Architectural Record, Dwell, New York Magazine, and Travel & Leisure, among others.She offers intimate, reflective observations of the human condition in this collection of short works, touching on themes of faith, love, loss, disaster, anticipation, obscurity, and utility. These sixty short pieces explore the mystery of place, memory, and what it is about domestic life that is both settling and unsettling alike. In a world of text messages and instant information, Busch's style of observation reminds the reader to slow down, take in, and live in the moment.